Chelsea could offer Nemanja Matic as Paul Pogba bait

Chelsea believe that offering Nemanja Matic to Juventus could help them seal a deal for Paul Pogba this summer, HITC Sport understands.

The Blues are locked in talks with Italian national boss Antonio Conte, who played a huge part in Pogba's development as he was in charge of Juve when they landed him from Manchester United.

Incoming Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has already made it know to his future bosses that he wants the French star, whilst Barcelona and Bayern Munich are also keen.

Chelsea now hope that they could hold the key to doing a deal with Juve by offering Matic, who has fallen from grace at Stamford Bridge this season.

The Serb returned to the club from Benfica in 2014 when they paid over £20million to sign a player they initially allowed to leave in 2011, and he played a key role in their title success in 2015 but his form since has dropped off and Chelsea's called off contract talks when he was on the verge of signing a new deal.

Juve have long accepted that Pogba is set to depart this summer and are open to the possibility of landing Matic, but they have told all interested parties that the final decision will be left to the player - as long as their valuation is met.

Graeme Bailey

Graeme is a freelance football writer who is a proud Teessider and Yorkshireman with a love of his family, football, golf and speedway. He specialises in transfer stories and over the years has broken a number of big stories and scoops.